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Flirting With a Merger Never Hurts,
If Your Shares Are Like Campbell's

By

Shelly Branch Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated June 6, 2000 12:01 a.m. ET

When David W. Johnson returned to the troubled Campbell Soup Co. in March after barely three years in retirement, many on Wall Street predicted the chief executive's tenure would be brief but memorable. His reign, Prudential Securities analyst John McMillin said, "will end with a merger or business combination. That's the way to make money for shareholders now."